The PSNI has refused to answer questions regarding allegations a senior officer removed a vacuum cleaner from a police station before trying to implicate lower ranking personnel in the incident.
Dubbed ‘Hoovergate’, the officer - whose identity and rank are known but aren’t being disclosed at this time - continues to serve with enhanced security clearance, sources say, despite admitting taking the vacuum cleaner before later quietly returning it.
The device is said to have been taken around Christmas, 2020 and reported missing by contracted cleaning staff on January 6, 2021. A supervisor with the cleaning company raised concerns after being contacted by his staff.
Read more: Probationary PSNI officer who illegally accessed police computer fined
Despite the obvious conflict of interest, the officer sent an assurance the device would be returned, it is claimed, and suggesting one of the officers in the station had probably taken it.
Concerned by the situation, another senior officer set out to establish what had occurred, issuing emails to all staff making them aware of the missing device. The officer alleged to have taken the hoover would later deny knowledge of these emails, despite being specifically copied into them, sources say.
However, one email sent on January 23, 2021, warning CCTV footage would be checked, seemed to have an effect as the officer returned the vacuum cleaner the next day, inside a cardboard box.
The return was captured on CCTV footage and the device itself was found by an officer in an area which had been searched multiple times beforehand.
It was also the area in which the investigating officer and his team were housed, leaving them upset by the implication that one of them was responsible. Notably, the dust bag had been removed.
Efforts to contact the officer took some time, and it would be February 5, 2021, before he was confronted and admitted to taking the vacuum cleaner. Such was the level of discontent among lower ranking officers who it was suggested were responsible for the missing equipment, they refused his offer of an apology.
Despite the situation being escalated to senior management at PSNI Headquarters, the officer in question was not sanctioned, and continues to serve with enhanced status.
Documentation shows prolonged efforts by several individuals to have the situation addressed to what they say is the appropriate level, but it appears nothing was done. This, sources say, has lead to discontent among lower ranking officers.
Recent figures showed that as of the end of 2022, no PSNI officer above the rank of Chief Inspector was disciplined for misconduct in the preceding five years. This was in contrast to 174 officers of Chief Inspector rank and below receiving formal sanction over the same duration.
A legal expert aware of ‘Hoovergate’ believes an officer of a lower rank would very likely have faced at least misconduct charges, but possibly gross misconduct for breaches of the Code of Ethics relating to integrity or dishonesty.
The PSNI were asked a series of questions regarding the case but declined to answer any of them, simply issuing a single line stating that they “have no comment to make at this time”.
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